Nightmare – King of the Dream Dimension, nigh-omnipotent, nigh-omniscient and nigh-omnipresent, tormentor of anyone who dreams.

The Hood – can go invisible, has limited levitation abilities. Corruption and power has overtaken his mind.

Group affiliation:Avengers

The Order

Defenders

Midnight Sons

Former disciple of the Ancient One

Highlights:
1972- Helped form The Defenders

1973- Earned the title Sorcerer Supreme

1988- Strange Tales Volume 2 featuring Cloak and Dagger

2004- Origin remade

2007- Animated Movie

2008- Left the Avengers

2016- Marvel Blockbuster Movie

History:

Origin Story:

Stephen Strange was born in 1930. He was the eldest child of Eugene and Beverly Strange. At age eight, Strange was attacked by demons working for apprentice sorcerer, Karl Mordo, only to be rescued by Mordo’s mentor, the Ancient One, protector of Earth with the title the Sorcerer Supreme. At age eleven Strange, after aiding his injured sister Donna, was inspired to pursue a medical career.

Whilst home on vacation from college for his 19th birthday, Strange and his sister went swimming. While in the water, Donna suffered a cramp and tragically drowned. Unable to save her, Stephen felt a sense of personal failure and guilt for not having the medical prowess to perform a miracle.

After earning his medical degree in record-breaking time and while having a five-year residency at New York hospital, Strange started to become highly arrogant. Near the end of his 5-year residency, his mother Beverly died. Soon after that tragedy Stephen started to become distant. While his wealth and ego grew and before he turned 30, Strange turned into a celebrated neurosurgeon. Two years after his mother passed away, Stephen’s father Eugene became severely ill. In fear of dealing with another family members death, Stephen never visited his father’s death bed. This infuriated Victor (Stephen’s brother), and while leaving Stephen’s apartment one night in a fit of anger, he rushed out on to the road and was accidentally hit by an oncoming car. Blaming himself, Strange put Victor’s body in frozen storage hoping that the future would hold an answer to revive the dead.

In 1963 when Strange was 33 years old, he was involved in a car accident that caused major damage to the nerves in his hands. Thus his surgical career came to an end. Stephen’s ego would not allow him to accept any positions as a consultant or assistant, so Strange desperate as he was, sought out and pursued all possible treatments for a potential cure for his hands. In time his fortune dissipated and he became a shadow of his former self.

Soon however, Strange began hearing rumors of the mystical Ancient One and with his last bit of money he bought a ticket to the East where he found the Ancient One’s Tibetan palace. While asking the Ancient One to fix his hands, to which he refused, an attack was brought upon the sorcerer. It was soon after that, Strange learned that the Ancient One was Earth’s magical and mystical defender and that the head of the attack came from none other than the sorcerer’s pupil Mordo. For the first time in years Strange acted unselfishly and tried to warn the Ancient One, but Mordo mystically prevented Strange from doing this. For the sake of the world, Stephen made a vow to learn the ways of magic himself and counter Mordo and his ilk. Becoming a disciple of the Ancient One he spent years being instructed in the art of sorcery, learning how to tap the innate mystic powers of both himself and the world around him, as well as how to invoke the power of awesome entities or principalities, who resided in their own realms, most notably the three benign beings known as the Vishanti. Some years after Strange became a student, Mordo left to seek greater power and in the future he would often clash with Strange in an attempt to prove he is the greater disciple.

Thus over the course of his comic history, Stephen Strange would go on to learn the great powers of the universe while battling entities from other realms.

Are you an old school Disney fan? Did Beauty and the Beast both terrify and enchant you as it did me? Does Snow White’s relationship with the Seven Dwarfs confuse you? Did Maleficent’s harrowing death in Sleeping Beauty haunt your dreams? Do you remember being a child acting as the giant in Jack and the Beanstalk yelling FEE-FI-FO-FUM or was that just me? These classic Fairy Tales were made famous in the last century thanks to family friendly Disney films that were written well before their movie adaptations, and were originally much darker and full of mature themes.

The Fables series continues that dark tone but with a modern twist. The time period is near present day and most of the Fairy Tale creatures we know and love are now living in New York. These famous characters have to live among us non magical folk (Mundanes) in disguise. Pushed out of their magical worlds by an enemy only known as the Adversary and his army. The remaining magical beings were forced into hiding in the only place the Adversary doesn’t seem bothered with; the Mundane world.

Being a video game fan at heart I remember playing Telltales The Wolf Among Us (based in the Fables Universe) a year ago and loving it. I had been introduced to the world and these famous characters in a new and surprisingly logical light I wasn’t expecting. The game was cleverly done and I remember promising myself I would read the comic series to see if it matches the games intelligent story and fresh approach to old faces.

Who Killed Rose Red? That is the question that starts the comic series off. The who did it, detective/crime vibe I get from the story reminds me of old TV classics like Columbo and Quinsy.

In Vol 1 you closely follow Sheriff Bigby Wolf (the Big Bad Wolf) as he goes on an interesting journey to find out who killed Rose Red (Snow White’s sister).
We meet new and old faces along the way and I can guarantee that there are a couple that are shown in new ways that will totally surprise you. Sometimes I was In shock with how they treated old classic characters to then think and realise …. the new interpretations actually make perfect sense and stay very much true to the original characters personalities.

Fables Vol 1 collects issue 1 to 5 and is a great read if you love old school fantasy or not.